C2 Limits

Simply put, what are the limits of Construct 2?

I must say I haven't tried C2 yet, but it does seem interesting. However, before I start with it I am wondering what the limits are?

As opposed to say making a html5 game what are things that just can't be done in C2? Are there things so custom that they can't be done in C2?

For now, there are limits in the sense that for features like AI, you don't have plug and play behavior for them, you have to work around it and figure out how you want it done. There has always been a way for me, was just a matter of easy or very easy.

Maybe for now though I'd say multiplayer is quite unfeasible and of course no 3D graphics.

There are many less limits than you think. The main limits are browser problems, and poor HTML5 performance on mobile devices.

The only engine limits I can think of are

-no 3D support, as Rory said

-no multiplayer, again, said by rory,

-no vector manipulation or vector graphics (custom plugins might cover this)

If you have any specific examples, we could probably tell you if it's possible/feasible within C2. 99% of things are.

There aren't many technical limits, in terms of how many things you can add to your project. Performance on mobile is probably the biggest limiting factor, but with our WebGL renderer performance on desktop is already comparable to native engines.

I dont see the lack of multiplayer as a downside. Its somethin that really HAS to be tackled by each game as its needed not some universal catch all that can be or should be made part of c2

I'd say the limit is the time you can put in learning C2's ways.

Also the limit is your imagination/knowledge as far as solving problems with C2 goes.

Apart from that and the several points previously mentioned, there is no real limitations.

You could always have a try by yourself with the free version which has some further limitations :

You can make only 4 layers / layout, use a total of "only" 100 events on your project and use only 2 WebGL shaders effect.

If you want, and to start learning how to use C2, have a look at my tutorial Asteroid clone in less than 100 events.

Also, you can check the arcade and see the games made with C2 and try to see if you find any kind of limits you would like to have clarification about.

Thanks for the clear responses!

Imagination and knowledge is always a limit regardless of what you use to build a game.

I guess, from the replies, the only 'real' limitations are multiplayer and 3D.

It sounds so nice not to have to program, or rather not to have to program every little thing just to get a movable sprite on the screen. Back in the day I used to make games with RPG maker, not sure if this is similair to work with but I'll defenitly give this a try.

The only thing I wonder is, the code will be generated from the C2 editor so to speak. How optimized is this code?

To give an example, say you'd build a site in dreamweaver with the WYSIWYG editor, not that you should, but just for example's sake, the html/css will be bloated and in a sense slows down the website.

Is this the same with C2? or does it try and strip away as much as possible when 'compiling' a game?

Grubb

I used to play with RPG maker long time ago. The RPGM provides a wery staight, but so limeted way to make games. As I can remember You have the tilesets, makes levels from it, and add events to the map itself like: If collusion/on - with Door - Go to map2...

With C2 you will have a chance to divide the specific program pieces, for example - the map generation or map reading from xml is one "Event sheet

• the menu is an another
• the movement/actions of the main character is an another
• the logic of NPCs is an another
• the score/stante handlig is an another

So when you need to add something new, you will find it, and can change in one place.

Code optimisation

The C2 export default is to Minify the javascript, and since several months it have a great auto-stritesheeting feature, what combines small images into one. This last one is perfect for character animations for example.

I dont think that anything more can be done technically to make smaller footprint and better performance.

C2 is not only an outstanding game making tool but also a great and highly optimized engine.

The only limit is HTML5 itself.

On desktop the gap with native applications is reducing at an impressive pace.

On mobile devices the situation is frankly depressive and even considering directcanvas and cocoonjs I'm starting to think that HTML5 will not be suitable for complex projects for still a long time to come.

I don't blame Scirra for this. In fact they've done the far best HTML5 game engine out there and they sell it at a reasonable low price.

I blame instead companies like Apple and Google. They pushed html5 on mobile in its early days but now the support is evolving at a snail's pace.

Thanks again for the replies.

Great to hear that games are optimized and performing well.

I agree with you Knifegrinder that the mobile web has some miles to go before you can implement proper html5 on there. Another issue here is that most mobile users don't update the browser on their device and most Android devices only ship with a new browser version together with a new Android version. So older versions are relatively long in a users hands if they have a mobile device for say 2 years.

Epox good old days those were, but yes it was mainly based on triggers at certain locations or bound to timers. It's good to hear that C2 does this all seperately, just the way I prefer it.

The more I hear the more excited I get to give C2 a try.